Category: OTC

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Blessings and Curses

Deuteronomy 27-28 and Psalm 33

Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 27:9

We don’t see the phrase, “shut up and listen” too often, nor do we result to this tough position, but here we have Moses and the Levitical priests adding some punch to their words. Listen up people, here are your blessings and curses: curses for idol makers and commandment breakers, blessings for those who are obedient. Each of the curses are punctuated with an Amen! from the people. Lord, I hope that I will shut up and listen to you!!

I love the imagery in this description of those who are blessed for obedience:

The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. Deuteronomy 28:7

That verse is so appropriate for many of my friends who are working so hard to serve Christ’s church. I thought about texting that to each one individually…still thinking about several. I pray that they will find comfort in the promise of the Christmas season. When we get down and feel beaten, I pray these words will pop up in their minds. Come Holy Spirit, come! Scatter my enemies!

No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:16,22

 

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Exclusion, Various Laws and Firstfruits

Deuteronomy 23-26

“…turned the curse into a blessing for your, because the Lord your God loves you” (Deuteronomy 23:5). Moses is referring back to the time when Balaam was hired to curse the Israelites, but God turned it around. The phrase I bolded makes me pause. Here we are a week away from Christmas, reading about our ancient forefathers and some of the most brutal times I know when suddenly this phrase, “because the Lord your God loves you.” Just a bit further, as we read more rules, “For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you” (Deuteronomy 23:14).

The takeaway for me is simple: there are good reasons “why” all of this stuff is happening and those reasons center on the fact that God, the Creator of all, loves us. He cares about us and is working in our lives to protect us. Crazy!

The Christmas tree looks great and our girls are excited to celebrate together. I hope and pray we can somehow grasp this concept that God is moving in our lives.

Yesterday the passage discussed not going to war if you were engaged to be married. This law adds another dimension to God’s desire for us to have a healthy marriage:

If a man has recently married, he must not be sent to war or have any other duty laid on him. For one year he is to be free to stay at home and bring happiness to the wife he has married. Deuteronomy 24:5

What a concept: stay at home and bring happiness. This is certainly a gem to extract from the reading today!

 

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Capital Punishment, War, Marriage Laws

Deuteronomy 19-22 and Psalm 32

Cities of refuge are required and defined to provide a place for those to accidentally kill someone to hide. Given the size of the growing population of Israelites there are enough people that this is a real possibility. Even further as the population continues to grow. “Set aside for yourselves three cities in the land…set aside three more cities…” Deuteronomy 19:2,9

Moses recaps rules about witnesses as well, “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” Deuteronomy 19:15. People are prone to evil. Establishing a well defined legal system is there to protect society, to define rules and limits.

Going to War. It’s interesting that there are four provisos for opting out of a particular battle: 1) new house, 2) new vineyard, 3) pledged in marriage and 4) fainthearted. If you’ve built a house, but haven’t moved in; planted a vineyard, but haven’t enjoyed it’s harvest; or haven’t married the woman you have been pledge to–don’t go to war. You’ll be distracted with thoughts of home. This is one of the hardest things about being in the military, but we learn to suck it up and endure the separation. Not good, but not the end of the world.

The last one, however, is really significant: “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.” Deuteronomy 20:8 Seriously. Don’t go into battle half-hearted. I can’t pretend to understand battles or war in ancient times, and honestly, I don’t want to dwell in that space, but I can imagine that having someone next to me in battle that is filled with fear would be devastating. Even in much less dangerous situations (e.g., work, school, etc.), being around those who are fainthearted has great negative consequences. Lift each other up, encourage each other. We don’t have to do this alone. These are all good ideas as long as they start with confidence that what we are doing is in the will of God. If we are attuned to His way of thinking, we should attack whatever challenge we have with confidence.

“You must purge evil from among you” is found four times in this reading. Seriously, let’s remove evil from our midst. As a society that has gravitated to selfish desires, it’s easy to see how this will become a significant problem. On the other hand, if we learn how to live in community, how to get along with our neighbors; if we build trust and act with integrity, then we will enjoy our time here on earth. We may even be the beacon of hope we preach about! What a concept! No, I don’t think it’s a good idea to stone everyone who makes mistakes, but I do see a lot of practical wisdom this morning.

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Legal, Financial and Ritual Concerns

Deuteronomy 15-18

Chapter 15 begins, “At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.” Wouldn’t that be amazing! The idea that “there need be no poor people among you,” is a worthy goal; even though, “there will always be poor people in the land.” Even today we see this reality and we know we must “not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward them.” Lord, I pray we can “be openhanded” and truly loving to those in our community.

Reading through this part of the Old Testament is challenging. On one hand we see timeless wisdom in the statements above, then in the next section we read about our wonderful slaves. Puzzling for those who want to believe we Christians have it right, those who are seeking what we claim is the ultimate prize: Jesus Christ.

Rejoice! “Remember that you were slaves…” Judges, don’t accept bribes, don’t worship other gods or listen to occult practices. Purge the evil among the people. No more grumbling or complaining (I’m really preaching to myself). The Lord is my inheritance…no need for more!

There is a lot of wisdom in this section, but scary consequences for those who are “to be put to death.” In our posh and super civilized culture, this extreme measure makes no sense. What we must do is understand the historical significance and look for those themes that remain constant. This is not a call for capital punishment. It is, however, a call to be blameless before the Lord.

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Worship and Tithes

Deuteronomy 12-14 and Psalm 31

The One Place Of Worship

“Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.”

Break free from their ways. Worship God alone. I read these words and think about all the pagan ways of old that I see in front of me as new. Lord help me to destroy completely all the idols, all the ways the world has taught me to worship temporary pleasures. Show me the joy of your love; true worship, true peace.

Tithes

“Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.” (Deuteronomy 14:22) God does not want us to withhold anything from him; rather, he wants us to celebrate with great joy:

Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. Deuteronomy 14:26

Don’t take this out of context, but don’t downplay the opportunity to rejoice in the presence of God!

 

 

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Fear, Love and Serve God

Deuteronomy 4-11 and Psalm 30

For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime;
weeping may stay for the night,
but rejoicing comes in the morning.

You turned my wailing into dancing
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing your praises and not be silent.
Lord my God, I will praise you forever.

Psalm 30:5,11-12

Moses continues the recap of history, reminding the people to remind their children, “teach them to your children and to their children after them” (Deuteronomy 4:9).

The Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are. Deuteronomy 4:20

Moses warns the people, somewhat prophetically, of the dangers of making idols in the future, long after they’ve entered the Promised Land.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. Deuteronomy 4:29

Today’s Our Daily Bread centered on Matthew 6:33 where Jesus tells us to “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness.” Seek the Lord and he will be found. God is not hiding from you! He is not hiding from me, he is right here in this place. Set aside the idols of money and instant gratification and seek first his kingdom.

Chapter 6 has some great words of wisdom for us to remember, words to live by: link.

Chapter 7 is a motivational talk to remind us not only of the bad, but also the good that will happen if we keep the Lord first. Moses continues this in Chapter 8 with a stern warning, “If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Deuteronomy 8:10

Chapter 9 reminds us that the people driven out of the Promised Land are wicked; it’s their wickedness that set them against the Lord. It’s not the wonderful righteousness of the Israelites that prevails:

Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:6

Moses recalls the day when Aaron and the people created a Golden Calf as an idol to worship and the potential doom avoided because of his begging the Lord to forgive the people. Essentially, Moses says, “remember, you are idiots, but God loves you anyway! Now, stop being stupid!”

There are dozens of sermons wrapped up in chapters 4-11, many calls to remember the past, how God has always been the constant, steady light for us to follow. Moses reminds us past failures to help us in the future. Don’t forget the past, but don’t live there either. Use history to learn from not relive.

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Covenant History

Deuteronomy 1-3 and Psalm 29

Deuteronomy begins with a brief recap of major events including the delegation of responsibility to tribal leaders and the rebellion that happened after the 12 spied out the Promised Land.

In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God

The Israelites fought and won many battles, physical struggles against those in the region. Their reputation must have garnered one of fear in an age where kings ruled with power. Moses was a great leader, but not perfect. His mistake in Numbers 20 eclipsed all the good he did for decades and his undying faith in the Lord. There is some bitterness in Moses’ mind:

But because of you the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me, “That is enough,” the Lord said, “Do no speak to me anymore about this matter” Deuteronomy 3:26

The mantle of leadership carries much weight and errors in judgment make an enormous difference. This reminded me of James 3:1-2, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways…”

Lord help me to be true to you in all ways, for your glory, not for my fame!

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Boundaries — Physical and Legal

Numbers 34-36

Cities of Refuge provide a holding place for those who accidentally kill someone awaiting trial. These were given to the Levites to manage. There are lots of rules that go along with using the haven, but the intent is to allow time to process the claim and protect the individual.

Zelophehad’s Daughters get their inheritance, as promised and they complied with command to marry within their tribal clan to ensure future inheritance would stay within the clan.

We come to the end of Numbers.

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The Tribes Prepare to Settle Canaan

Numbers 31-33 and Psalm 28

Moses instructs the Israelites to fight the Midianites with 12,000 men, 1,000 from each tribe. They killed every man, the five kings of Midian are listed. Balaam is also killed in the battle.

“Moses was angry with the officers of the army…have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident” Numbers 31:14-16

Moses commanded them to kill the boys and every woman who was not a virgin. I have a hard time typing that sentence, but trust God’s bigger plan is for the greater good.

The Transjordan Tribes

The Reubenites and Gadites were pleased with the land they were living in, not part of the Promised Land, so they asked Moses, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.” Moses is ticked! “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?” But the tribes are sincere, they really like the land where they were, it was perfect for their livestock so they pleaded with Moses,

we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place…we will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has received their inheritance. We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan. Numbers 32:17-19

Moses is pleased with this pledge and reiterates the conditions for inheriting the land they possess. “The Gadites and Reubenites answered, ‘Your servants will do what the Lord has said. We will…'”

The Lord commands them to drive out the inhabitants and destroy the idols. If they don’t, “those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides.” As the book of Numbers is coming to an end, these prophetic words will remind us again and again of the importance of purity.

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Offerings and Vows

Numbers 28-30 and Psalm 27

“On the Sabbath day, make an offering…” I found this interesting given the later interpretation of “work” on the Sabbath–surely preparing two lambs, grains, flour and olive oil would constitute “work” by definition. There are several places where the requirement to “do no work” or “do no regular work” is specified. Offering is not regular work, our worship is pleasing to God. He is set on helping his people as they learn what it means to be his chosen people, set apart from the rest of the world.

The Lord provided regulations for marriage and for a father and his young daughter still living at home. There’s just a bit of irony here as we think about children living at home as adults. Ok, chapter 30 has nothing to do with our modern experience, but it popped up in my mind.

In the social context of Numbers, the father and the husband, i.e., the male in charge, has the authority to nullify the female vow or pledge (if he hears it and responds immediately). There’s no indication the same applies to a son who makes a vow or pledge and definitely no indication that the wife can nullify the husband’s rash words. Since I don’t really appreciate the culture within which these regulations were constructed I don’t want to presume much and certainly won’t consider projecting these rules into our current society. The takeaway in my opinion is the orderly way in which the Lord is defining how the Israelites should act.

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